A WOMAN died after plunging from the roof of a Huddersfield hotel, an inquest heard yesterday .

The naked body of manic depressive Erica Dawn Coote was found in the railway car park by The George Hotel on June 10 last year.

The inquest heard that four-times married Mrs Coote, 56, of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, had checked into the hotel on the morning of the previous day.

Hotel receptionist Miss Chesta Webster, who gave evidence at the inquest, said Mrs Coote had seemed "strange and on edge" when she arrived at the hotel.

And hotel assistant manager Miss Catherine Gilham told Kirklees Coroner Roger Whittaker that Mrs Coote had brought some laundry to reception on the same day, but had said she didn't know how long she was going to be around.

Mrs Coote's body was discovered in the car park under the window of her third floor room by a bank clerk, who discovered the body while parking her car before boarding a train to her workplace in Manchester.

Deputy hotel housekeeper Donna Newham said she had checked the room after police were called and she found both windows locked from the inside.

A statement from Mrs Coote's son David James Law said his mother had suffered paranoia since giving birth to his sister in 1969.

A retired accountant, she had suffered several breakdowns, had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act and suffered constant irrational fears about dying.

A post-mortem report by Prof Christopher Mark Milroy said her death was consistent with a fall from a high building.

He said she had suffered massive internal and external injuries including major damage to her liver and kidneys, a fractured spine and pelvis, and a head injury.

Mr Whittaker said Mrs Coote had no history of previous suicide attempts or self harm despite her long history of mental illness.

And he said it was unlikely that a woman would take her own life knowing she would be found in a naked state.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Whittaker said Mrs Coote had for some reason wandered naked on to the roof of the hotel in a hypermanic state and had fallen into the car park below.